CLARENCE, N.Y. — An investigator says the plane that crashed on a house in New York state landed flat on it and was pointed away from the airport where it was supposed to land.
Steve Chealander said Saturday that Continental Connection Flight 3407 did not dive into the house, as initially thought. He said the New Jersey-to-Buffalo flight was cleared to land on a runway pointing to the southwest. But the plane crashed with its nose pointed to the northeast.
He also said the catastrophic nature of the crash means it could take three or four days to remove human remains.
Forty-nine people on the plane and one person in the house died in the fiery crash late Thursday.
Experts were analyzing data from the “black boxes,” including statements by crew members about a buildup of ice on the wings and windshield of the plane, Chealander said.
But authorities have yet to pin that as the cause of the crash, which occurred during light snow and mist.
The Associated Press
